Excess of accusation (overcharging) and mega-trials
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12957/rqi.2025.90774Keywords:
Overcharging, Prosecution Excess, Mega-Trials, White Collar Crimes, Fundamental Rights, WarrantiesAbstract
The article critically examines the practice of overcharging in the context of Brazilian criminal proceedings, especially in large-scale criminal operations (the so-called mega-trials). The research is based on a bibliographical review and aims to demonstrate how the excessive imputation of crimes, either without sufficient evidentiary suport or through improper application of legal norms, compromises the fundamental rights of the accused. The concept of overcharging is first defined and then analyzed outside the context of negotiated criminal justice. The text identifies recurring forms of prosecutorial excess, such as charges without factual or evidentiary basis and distortions in the application of the rules on concurrence of offenses and apparent conflict of norms. It then explores why large cases - marked by procedural confusion, broad criminal typologies and intense media pressure – provide fertile ground for this type of abusive practice. The article concludes that overcharging, far from being a mere technical excess, represents a threat to due process and distorts the institutional role of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, undermining its status as a guarantor institution within the Democratic Rule of Law.
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